) 


B    3    101    163 


•Mt*  MBAA*»  AGRIC.  DEPT. 


AGRICUJ  TUPc 


IVI /I V    Q    I00"5 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
CATTLE  FEVER  TICK 


What  Every  Southern  Child 

Should  Know  About 

Cattle  Ticks 


i        '       "'-       ' 

— — — — — — 

V 

1 

l>^-  >^ 


WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1917 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
CATTLE  FEVER  TICK 


What  Every  Southern  Child 

Should  Know  About 

Cattle  Ticks 


A  picture  book  which  shows  how  the  fever  ticks  steal  milk,  meat 
and  money  from  farmers  and  kill  thousands  of  their  cattle 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

1917 


Vtf* 


«Aifc   tlHfv^.'v  k'okiC'GEPf* 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRI'   ULTURE 
WASHINGTON,   D.  C. 


October  1,  1917. 

Dear  School  Children  of  the  South: 

I  know  that  you  do  not  like  to  have  cows  and  steers  and 
calves  get  sick  and  die.  When  a  cow  dies  there  is  less  milk 
and  when  a  steer  dies  there  is  less  meat,  and  we  all  like  milk 
and  butter  and  meat  with  our  meals.  We  all  like  to  see  fat, 
healthy  cattle  grazing  in  the  country. 

You  can  help  to  keep  cattle  from  getting  sick  and  dying  by 
reading  this  story  book  and  then  getting  your  parents  to 
fight  cattle  fever  ticks  in  your  county. 

For  most  of  the  cattle  that  die  of  sickness  in  the  South  die 
because  they  have  been  bitten  by  cattle  fever  ticks. 

These  ticks  carry  tick  fever  from  a  sick  animal  to  a  well 
one.  This  sickness  is  sometimes  called  redwater,  or  murrain. 
Some  animals  bitten  by  ticks  do  not  die,  but  every  year  fever 
ticks  kill  thousands  of  cattle  that  ought  to  be  giving  milk  or 
become  meat  at  the  butcher's. 

This  story  book  tells  you  how  to  get  rid  of  these  robber 
ticks.  In  many  counties  people  have  gotten  rid  of  fever 
ticks  by  building  dipping  vats  and  making  their  cattle 
swim  through  a  medicine  that  kills  ticks.  These  people  have 
freed  their  stock  from  tick  fever  and  now  are  sending  to 
market  all  the  milk  and  meat  that  the  ticks  used  to  steal. 
They  are  turning  feed  into  valuable  food  instead  of  into 
worthless  ticks. 

Get  your  father  and  mother  to  read  this  story. 

I  hope  that  you  and  your  friends  will  enjoy  this  little  book 
Very  truly,  yours, 

a. 

Chief,  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry. 

3 


939C21 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  CATTLE 
FEVER  TICK. 

ONE  warm  summer  day  an  olive-green  cattle  fever 
tick  laid  4,000  tiny  eggs  in  the  grass  on  a 
southern  farm.  These  eggs  were  waxy  brown  in 
color  and  were  not  much  larger  than  a  turnip  seed. 
Here  is  a  picture  of  the  tiny  eggs: 


Tick  eggs  under  magnify- 
ing glass. 


These  little  eggs  were  kept  warm  by  the  sun.  In 
less  than  a  month  they  hatched  out  into  livery, 
hungry  seed  ticks.  Each  seed  tick  was  smaller  than 
the  head  of  a  pin.     If  you  had  looked  at  the/ie  ticks 


6 


THE  CATTLE  FEVER  TICK. 


through  a  magnifying  glass,  you  would  have  seen 
that  they  had  six  legs. 


Cattle  fever  seed  ticks. 
Count  the  legs. 


These  tin}^  seed  ticks  were  very  hungry.  They 
wanted  to  get  some  blood  from  a  cow  or  steer  or 
calf.     Blood  is  the  only  food  they  can  eat. 

The  hungry  baby  ticks  crawled  to  the  tips  of  the 
grass  and  to  the  tops  of  weeds  and  bushes.  The}' 
waited  there  for  an  animal  to  pass  by.  This  picture 
shows  the  baby  ticks  on  the  grass  lying  in  wait  for  a 
cow  or  calf  or  steer. 


ell 


THE  TICKS  GET  ON  A  COW. 


A  cow  walked  slowly  by  the  spot  where  the  little 
ticks  were  hiding. 

The  ticks  smelled  blood  and  got  ready  to  get  on 
the  cow. 

Many  of  the  seed  ticks  were  able  to  get  on  her 
tail  or  her  neck  or  her  legs. 

Every  baby  tick  on  the  cow  began  to  hunt  for  a 
thin  place  in  her  hide. 

As  soon  as  each  tick  had  found  a  tender  spot,  it 
began  to  bury  its  head  in  the  hide.  It  was  digging 
a  tiny  well  to  the  blood  in  the  cow. 

Here  are  seed  ticks  driving  their  little  wells  to  the 
blood  in  the  cow: 


liwJ    Cattle  fever  seed  ticks 


on  skin  of  cow 


.  Pp  •;>  m  ; 


When  the  baby  ticks  got  their  first  taste  of  blood, 
they  began  to  suck  blood  as  fast  as  they  could. 
Eveiy  day  they  grew  a  little  larger.  They  sucked 
blood  and  grew  for  about  a  week.  Then  they  shed 
their  skins,  which  is  called  molting,  and  became 
little  8-legged  ticks. 


8 


Tin:  c\ri  it:  it.\  i.i:  TICK. 


Cattle  fever  ticks  after  first 
molt.     Count  the  legs. 


The  little  8-legged  ticks  sucked  blood  again  and 
kept  on  growing  until  they  changed  or  molted  a 
second  time.  After  the  second  molt  they  looked 
like  this : 


Female,  or  egg-laying,  cattle 
fever  tick  after  second 
molt. 


Male  cattle  fever  tick 
after  second  molt. 


THE    TICKS    SPOIL    LEATHER. 


After  this  second  change  some  of  the  ticks  had 
become  brown  male  ticks.  The  others  had  become 
egg-laying  ticks.  The  egg-laying  ticks  at  first  were 
not  much  larger  than  the  brown  male  ticks.  The 
brown  male  ticks  did  not  grow  any  more.  But  the 
egg-laying  ticks  grew  larger  and  larger,  and  the 
larger  they  grew,  the  more  blood  they  sucked  from  the 
cow. 

They  made  bigger  wells  in  the  hide  so  that  they 
could  get  blood  faster. 

Each  of  these  wells  or  tick  bites  makes  a  sore  spot 
and  a  mark  in  the  leather  made  from  the  hide.  (See 
illustrations  on  page  10.) 

The  egg-laying  ticks  got  so  big  and  fat  that  they 
looked  like  tinv  blood  sausages,  or  little  balloons. 
Each  tick  kept  itself  full  of  blood  all  the  time.  If 
you  had  crushed  one  of  them,  you  would  have  seen 
the  blood  in  it.  The  male  ticks  stay  brown,  but  the 
egg-laying  ticks,  when  they  are  fat,  are  olive-green. 

The  big,  olive-green,  egg-laying  ticks  look  like  this: 


Full-grown  eg<>;-layini>;  tick 
under  magnifying  glass. 


The  ticks  sucked  so  much  blood  that  the  cow 
became  thin  and  scrawny.  The  cow  was  making 
blood  out  of  feed  as  fast  as  she  could.  But  she  could 
not  make  blood  fast  enough  to  feed  the  ticks  and  at 
the  same  time  keep  well  and  strong  and  fat  herself. 

8227°— 17 2 


10 


THE  (All  I.i;   1  K\  ER  TICK. 


^^ 


c^sv 


Leather  made  from  a  hide  not  bitten  by  ticks. 


Poor,  rough  leather  from  a  tick-bitten  huh-. 

You  can  see  why  a  tick-bitten  hide  is  worth  75  cents  to  $1.50  less  than 
one  not  full  of  tick  holes  and  spots. 


THE  TICKS  STEAL  MILK. 


11 


The  ticks  got  a  lot  of  the  blood  that  the  milk  cells 
of  the  udder  needed  for  making  milk.  The  cow's 
milk  fell  off  nearly  two  quarts  a  day. 


Ticks  steal  milk. 


Many  ticks  on   a  cow  may  reduce  her  milk  two 
quarts  a  day. 


The  ticks  also  got  a  lot  of  the  blood  that  should 
have  gone  into  meat  and  fat  on  the  cow. 

She  was  so  thin  that  the  butcher  would  not  buy 
her  to  kill  for  meat. 

Her  owner  wondered  why  she  ate  so  much  costly 
feed  and  gave  so  little  milk  and  did  not  grow  fat. 


*M|fe'V, 


The  fever  ticks  have  kept  this  cow  from  turning  much  of  her  feed  into 

milk  and  flesh. 


12 


THE  CATTLE   IT.\  F.I 5  TICK. 


This  steer  was  not  sucked  thin  by  ticks.     All  his  food  wont  to  make  boef 

and  fat  and  bone. 


This  steer  had  to  feed  ticks  as  well  as  himself.     His  feed  went  largely 

in  fatten  ticks. 

Which  steer  would  you  choose  if  you  were  the  butcher? 


THE  TICKS  WASTE   PEED.  13 

The  reason  was  that  a  large  part  of  the  feed  she 
was  eating  did  not  help  her,  but  was  wasted  in  feed- 
ing the  blood-sucking  ticks. 

If  these  ticks  had  gotten  on  a  steer,  they  would 
have  sucked  blood  from  it  that  should  have  gone  to 
help  it  grow  into  a  fine,  heavy,  fat  beef  animal. 

If  the  ticks  had  gotten  on  a  calf,  they  would  have 
sucked  so  much  blood  from  it  that  the  calf  could  not 
grow  into  a  strong,  healthy  cow  or  steer. 

You  can  see  that  wherever  there  are  ticks  the  cat- 
tle owner  will  have  less  milk  and  butter  and  meat  to 
send  to  market.  He  will  have  to  waste  a  lot  of  feed 
in  feeding  ticks  which  do  no  good  at  all  and  hurt 
or  kill  his  stock. 


THE  TICKS  START  A  NEW  FAMILY. 

The  brown  ticks  and  the  egg-laying  ticks  kept  on 
sucking  blood  until  they  could  eat  no  more.  The 
brown  ticks  ate  a  great  deal,  but  they  did  not  grow. 
The  egg-laying  ticks  became  olive-green  in  color  as 
they  grew  fatter  and  fatter. 

The  brown  ticks  at  last  dropped  off  the  cow  and 
died.  They  had  finished  their  short,  but  harmful, 
lives. 

The  olive-green,  or  egg-laying,  ticks  had  used  the 
blood  from  the  cow  to  grow  fat  themselves  and  also 
to  store  up  eggs  in  their  bodies.  When  they  had 
eaten  all  the  blood  they  could  use,  the  egg-laying 
ticks  dropped  off  the  cow  into  the  grass.  There,  each 
laid  4,000  to  5,000  eggs.  Having  started  a  new 
blood-sucking  family,  the  green  ticks  died. 

The  eggs  hatched  into  more  hungry  ticks  to  crawl 
on  the  cattle  and  to  suck  more  blood. 


14 


THE  CATTI.F.   IT.\  Kit  TICK. 


If  only  we  could  find  and  destroy  all  these  tiny 
eggs  laid  in  the  grass,  we  could  keep  the  seed  ticks 
from  hatching  out.  But  no  one  can  hope  to  find  all 
these  tiny  eggs  that  are  in  a  ticky  pasture. 


Egg-laying  tick  and  e<j^ 
that  she  has  laid. 


The  easiest  and  surest  way  to  get  rid  of  ticks  is  to 
kill  them  while  they  are  on  the  animal  and  before 
they  have  a  chance  to  lay  eggs  in  the  grass. 

Ticks  can  be  killed  on  cows,  steers,  calves,  and 
horses  by  making  the  animals  swim  through  a  dip- 
ping vat  full  of  a  medicine  which  kills  the  ticks. 


HOW  TICKS  KILL  CATTLE. 

The  owner  of  the  cow  on  which  the  ticks  had  been 
feeding  saw  that  she  was  getting  sick.  She  was  Aery 
thin  and  weak  and  feverish.  The  doctor  looked  at 
her.  He  said:  "The  cow  is  dying  of  tick  fever." 
Tick  fever  is  also  called  redwater,  murrain,  and 
splenetic  fever.  The  cow  got  so  weak  it  could  not 
get  up  on  its  legs.  At  last  it  died  in  the  pasture. 
The  cow  had  cost  $40,  and  the  owner  lost  all  this 
money. 


THE  TICKS  CARET  FEVER. 


15 


HOW  CATTLE  GET  TICK  FEVER. 

Cattle  get  tick  fever  from  being  bitten  by  a  fever 
tick,  and  in  no  other  way.  They  can  not  catch  it 
from  the  air,  nor  the  feed  they  eat,  nor  the  water 
they  drink.  They  do  not  get  it  by  being  near  another 
animal  which  has  the  fever. 

No  other  kind  of  tick  except  the  cattle  fever  tick 
carries  this  fever.  The  wood  ticks  which  sometimes 
get  on  children,  and  the  ticks  we  find  on  dogs,  rabbits 
chickens,  turtles,  and  many  other  animals  do  not 
carry  tick  fever.  These  other  kinds  of  ticks  some- 
times get  on  cattle  and  annoy  them,  but  they  do  not 
and  can  not  give  tick  fever  to  the  cattle. 

The  fever  tick  carries  cattle  fever  from  a  sick  animal 
to  a  well  animal.  It  carries  this  disease  much  as 
certain  kinds  of  mosquitoes  carry  malaria  from  one 
human  being  to  another. 

But  the  ticks  do  not  cany  this  fever  straight  from 
a  sick  animal  to  a  well  one.     Once  a  tick  has  gotten- 


This  cow  is  dying  with  tick  fever. 


16 


THE  CATTLE  FEVER  TICK. 


- 

-*— r  ftk 

Bk.  \ 

s  m 

la   ^BLiS 

X 

W'      A 

W      B 

These  are  fever  ticks.     A,  Full-grown   female;    B,  young  fever 'tick  after 

first  molt.     The  picture-;  arc  much  larger  than  real  ticks 


These  ticks,  found  on  dogs  and  other  animals,  do  not  give  tick  fever  to 
cattle.  A,  American  dog  tick;  1>,  Gulf  coast  tick;  C,  brown  dog  tiek. 
(Enlarged.) 

on  jui  animal  it  docs  not  leave  that  animal  until  it 
drops  off  to  die  or  to  lay  eggs.  So  live  ticks  do  not 
pass  from  one  cow  or  steer  bo  another. 

How  do  the  fever  ticks  carry  tick  fever  from  a 
sick  animal  to  a  well  animal'?  The  tick  that  is  suck- 
ing blood  from  a  sick  animal  gets  the  germs  of  this 
fever  in  the  Mood  it  cats.  These  fever  germs  stay 
in  the  tick's  body  and  get  into  its  eggs.     The  germs 


TICKS   KILL   MANY  CATTLE. 


17 


in  the  egg  get  into  the  body  of  the  baby  tick  before 
it  hatches  out.  The  baby  tick  after  it  hatches  out 
carries  these  germs  with  it  when  it  gets  on  a  cow  or 
steer  or  calf  in  search  of  blood. 

When  the  tick  bores  its  well  into  the  hide  it  lets 
some  of  these  fever  germs  get  into  the  blood  of  the 
animal.  These  germs  spread  through  the  blood  of 
the  cow  or  steer  or  calf  and  make  it  sick  with  tick 
fever. 

Sometimes  these  germs  do  not  make  the  animal 
very  sick.  Such  animals  do  not  die  of  fever.  But 
in  many  cases  the  germs  make  the  cattle  very  sick 
and  kill  them. 

Thousands  of  cows  and  steers  and  calves  are  killed 
every  year  in  the  South  by  this  tick  fever  carried 
by  ticks. 

Many  animals  that  do  not  die  of  the  fever  are 
weak  and  scrawnv  and  sickly  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives. 


The  kind  of  cattle  the  fever  tick  lets  live. 


18  THE  CATTLE   FEVEB  TICK. 

The  fever  and  the  loss  of  the  blood  that  the  ticks 
suck  out  weaken  many  animals  so  that  they  can  not 
stand  winter  storms.  They  die  of  exposure  or  starva- 
tion. Many  of  these  would  not  die  if  the  fever  ticks 
had  not  weakened  them. 

Many  cows  are  made  so  weak  by  the  fever  and  the 
loss  of  the  blood  the  ticks  suck  that  they  can  not 
care  for  their  baby  calves  in  the  spring.  Many  calves 
die  at  this  season. 

It  is  called  "spring  loss,"  and  costs  cattle  raisers  a 
lot  of  monev. 

Cattle  owners  could  save  these  losses  bv  killing 
the  fever  ticks. 


AN  ENEMY  OF  FINE  CATTLE. 

Cattle  brought  into  the  South  from  places  where 
there  are  no  fever  ticks  get  tick  fever  very  easily 
and  are  almost  sure  to  die  from  it.  This  is  why 
good,  tick-free  breeding  animals  can  not  be  brought 
to  a  ticky  farm  to  improve  the  breed  of  the  cattle. 
The  fever  ticks  are  almost  sure  to  kill  good  milch 
cows,  good  bulls,  or  good  beef  cattle  brought  in 
from  tick-free  places.  Fine  animals  are  so  valuable 
that  a  farmer  can  not  afford  to  keep  them  if  ticks 
suck  out  their  blood  and  keep  them  from  being- 
healthy. 

This  is  why  we  see  so  many  scrawny  cattle  where 
there  are  ticks.  In  ticky  country  we  do  not  see 
herds  of  fine,  fat,  grade,  or  pure-bred  stock.  But 
where  the  tick  has  been  killed  in  the  South  you  will 
see  fatter  and  better  cattle  on  almost  every  farm. 


GETTING   RID  OF   TICKS. 


19 


20  THE  CATTLE  1  K\  BE  TICK. 

GETTING  KID  OF  TICKS  HELPS  A  COUNTY. 

You  can  see  that  it  is  a  very  good  thing  for  cattle 
owners  to  get  rid  of  ticks.  Without  ticks  they  have 
more  milk  and  meat  to  sell.  Their  cattle  do  not  die 
of  fever.  They  can  raise  more  cattle.  They  can 
raise  better  kinds  of  cattle.  They  get  full  returns 
from  their  feed.     Thev  make  more  monev. 

Getting  rid  of  fever  ticks  is  a  good  thing  also  for 
all  the  business  men  of  the  county.  If  cattle  raisers 
and  dairvmen  have  more  milk  and  meat  to  sell,  thev 
will  have  more  money  to  spend  in  the  stores  for 
clothes  and  groceries  and  machinery.  The}'  will 
have  more  money  to  put  into  the  banks.  When 
there  are  no  ticks,  the  cattle  raisers  get  more  money 
for  their  beef  cattle  at  the  big  cattle  markets.  This 
brings  more  money  from  the  outside  into  the  county. 
When  more  money  comes  into  the  county,  the  people 
of  the  county  are  more  prosperous.  There  is  more 
business  and  more  work  for  them.  Even-one  gets  a 
share  of  the  extra  money. 

A  MEDICINE  WHICH  KILLS  TICKS. 

It  is  easy  to  get  rid  of  cattle  fever  ticks.  It  does 
not  cost  much  money  nor  take  very  much  time  or 
trouble.     It  is  worth  doing. 

The  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  has 
found  a  sure  and  simple  way  to  kill  all  of  the  fever 
ticks  in  a  county. 

It  has  made  a  medicine  called  an  arsenical  bath. 
This  medicine  kills  all  the  ticks  that  are  wet  with  it. 

The  easiest  way  to  wet  the  ticks  is  to  make  the 
cattle  swim  through  a   vat  filled  with  this  medicine. 

To  make  ;i  v:it,  the  people  first  dig  a  deep,  long 
trench.    They   line  this  trench  with   concrete  and 


MEDICINE  TO  KILL  TICKS. 


21 


When  the  cattle  swim  through  this  vat,  the  medicine  kills  the  ticks. 


This  shows  how  the  vat  is  built. 


22  THE  CATTLE  FEVER  TICK. 

cement,  so  that  it  will  hold  water.  Then  they  fill 
the  vat  with  water  and  put  the  arsenic  and  other 
medicines  into  the  water.  This  makes  what  is  called 
an  "arsenical  dipping  solution." 

The  cattle  are  driven  to  the  vat  and  made  to  swim 
through  the  medicine. 

The  medicine  does  not  hurt  the  animal,  but  kills  all 
the  seed  ticks,  male  ticks,  and  egg-laying  ticks  that 
are  on  it. 


Dipped  animals  trapping  baby  licks. 

After  the  cattle  have  been  dipped  they  are  driven 
back  to  their  pastures. 

The  cattle  become  traps  for  the  seed  ticks  in  the 
grass  and  for  the  little  ticks  that  will  hatch  out  from 
the  eggs  already  in  the  grass. 

The  seed  ticks  in  the  pasture  crawl  up  on  the 
animals  after  they  have  been  dipped.  In  two  weeks 
the  animals  are  given  another  swim  through  the 
medicine.     The   medicine  kills  nil   the  young   ticks 


TRAPPING  BABY  TICKS.  23 

that  have  gotten  on  the  cattle.  The  ticks  are  killed 
before  they  have  had  a  chance  to  make  any  eggs  or 
suck  much  blood. 

Then  the  animals  go  back  to  pasture  again  and 
trap  still  more  seed  ticks.  After  the  animals  have 
been  dipped  in  the  medicine  every  two  weeks  all 
spring  and  summer  there  will  be  no  more  ticks  to  lay 
eggs.  There  will  be  no  more  eggs  left  to  hatch  out  a 
fresh  crop  of  seed  ticks.  All  the  ticks  that  have  been 
trapped  by  the  cattle  have  been  killed  by  dipping. 
All  the  little  seed  ticks  that  did  not  get  on  the  cattle 
have  starved  to  death. 


EVERY  ANIMAL  MUST  BE  DIPPED. 

'  Where  the  people  of  a  county  see  that  every  cow, 
calf,  steer,  horse,  mule,  and  colt  is  dipped  regularly 
during  the  spring  and  summer,  they  will  get  rid  of  the 
ticks  in  their  county  in  a  single  year.  All  the  cattle 
in  the  county  must  be  dipped.  It  will  not  do  to  dip 
some  cattle  and  to  let  others  go  undipped.  The 
undipped  cattle  will  spread  egg-laying  ticks  along  the 
roads  and  in  the  free  pastures  and  woods.  The  eggs 
which  these  ticks  lay  will  hatch  into  seed  ticks  that 
will  get  on  undipped  cattle.  Those  that  do  not  get 
on  cattle  during  the  dipping  season  may  still  be  alive 
in  the  pasture  in  the  fall.  They  may  then  get  back 
on  the  dipped  cattle  when  it  is  too  cold  to  dip  cattle 
again  in  the  medicine. 

Every  cow,  steer,  or  calf  that  is  not  dipped  in  the 
medicine  regularly  is  liable  to  carry  and  spread  ticks 
wherever  it  goes.  As  long  as  there  are  any  ticks  alive 
on  any  of  the  cattle  the  county  can  not  get  entirely 
rid  of  fever  ticks. 


24  THE  CATTLE  FEVER  TICK. 


HORSES  AND  MULES  ALSO  MUST  BE  DIPPED. 

Fever  ticks  sometimes  hide  on  horses  and  colts 
and  mules.  They  do  not  cause  fever  in  these  ani- 
mals. The  few  ticks  that  are  on  horses  and  mules 
must  be  killed  or  the  seed  ticks  which  hatch  from 
their  eggs  will  get  on  cattle.  Therefore,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  make  horses  and  colts  and  mules,  as  well  as 
cattle,  swim  through  the  medicine. 


IT  PAYS  TO  DIP  CATTLE. 

It  does  not  cost  anyone  much  money  to  dip  the 
animals.  All  the  people  of  the  county  help  pay  for 
the  vats,  the  medicine,  and  for  the  dipping  inspectors. 

Where  people  want  to  get  rid  of  the  ticks  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  without 
cost  to  the  county,  will  send  trained  men  to  help 
the  county  build  vats,  mix  the  medicine,  and  dip 
the  cattle. 

The  extra  money  the  people  will  make  from  their 
cattle  will  pay  them  back  many  times  for  the  money 
they  spend  for  dipping.  The  extra  money  will  pay 
farmers  well  for  all  the  time  they  use  in  driving  their 
cattle  to  the  vats. 


MANY  COUNTIES  ALREADY    FREED   FROM   TICKS. 

The  people  in  hundreds  of  counties  in  the  South 
already  have  gotten  rid  of  ticks  by  using  this  medicine 
in  dipping  vats. 

Study  the  little  map  on  the  next  page.  Get  your 
teacher  to  help  you  find  the  spot  on  this  ma})  where 
you  live. 


THE  VICTORY  OVER  TICKS. 


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26 


THE  CATTLE   I  l.\  ER  TICK. 


All  the  country  that  is  south  of  the  red  line  across 
the  top  of  the  map  was  full  of  fever  ticks  up  to  the 
vear  1906. 

These  ticks  were  so  dangerous  to*  cattle  in  tick- 
free  country  that  the  United  States  Government 
said  that  no  cattle  with  fever  ticks  on  them  should 
be  shipped  out  of  a  ticky  State  to  go  to  farms  where 
there  were  no  fever  ticks.     This  is  called  a  "  quaran- 


Cattle  in  quarantine   pens.    These  cattle  are  from  ticky  country.    They 
are  kept  away  from  clean  cattle. 

tine"  to  prevent  the  spread  of  tick  fever.  The  Gov- 
ernment made  this  rule  because  these  fever  ticks 
would  give  the  fever  to  tick-free  cattle  and  kill  them. 
This  rule  makes  it  harder  for  owners  of  I  icky  catl  le 
to  ship  their  cattle  to  the  big  cattle  markets  in  other 
Slates.  They  have  to  keep  their  ticky  cattle  in 
quarantine  cars  and  pens  away  from  all  lick-free 
cattle  until  they  reach  the  slaughterhouse. 


THE  TICK-FREE  COUNTRY.  27 


Ticky  cattle  bring  lower  prices  per  pound  than 
tick-free  cattle.  It  is  more  trouble  and  it  costs 
more  to  ship  ticky  cattle. 

THE  TICK  IS  DIPPED  OUT  OF  THE  WHITE  SPOTS. 

The  people  living  in  the  counties  shown  in  white 
below  the  red  line  on  the  map  at  last  got  tired  of 
ticks.  They  asked  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  to  help  them.  The  Department  sent 
men  to  show  them  how  to  build  dipping  vats  and 
how  to  mix  the  medicine  to  kill  the  ticks. 

,  Wherever  the  people  dipped  all  their  cattle  regu- 
larly they  got  rid  of  these  ticks. 

The  white  places  on  the  map  below  the  red  line 
show  where  the  people  have  killed  all  the  fever 
ticks  with  this  medicine.  These  counties  have  been 
freed  from  the  troublesome  quarantine  rules.  The 
fever  ticks  have  been  driven  out  from  313,800  square 
miles  of  the  South. 

The  red  spots  on  the  map  show  where  the  people 
have  not  yet  got  rid  of  fever  ticks.  There  are  still 
414,765  square  miles  of  red  territory  to  be  freed  from 
ticks. 

GLAD  THEY  GOT  RID  OF  TICKS. 

The  people  who  live  in  the  white  sections  on  the 
map  are  very  glad  now  that  they  got  rid  of  the 
fever  ticks.  They  will  not  allow  ticky  cattle  to 
be  shipped  into  their  clean  counties  for  fear  that  the 
cattle  ticks  will  get  back  on  their  cattle. 

They  write  letters  to  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture saying  that  they  get  more  milk  from  their 


28 


THE  CATTLE  I  K\  EB  TICK. 


THE    TICKY    COUNTRY. 


29 


cows.  They  say  that  their  beef  animals  grow 
fatter  and  bigger  with  the  same  amount  of  feed. 
They  tell  how  they  have  improved  their  stock  by 
bringing  in  better  breeding  animals.  Their  cattle 
no  longer  die  from  tick  fever.  They  get  more  per 
pound  for  their  tick-free  cattle  at  the  big  stock 
yards.  The  stock  raisers  say  that  cattle  are  worth 
$7.50  more  per  head  where  the  tick  has  been  dipped 
out. 

DO  YOU  LIVE  ON  A  RED  SPOT? 

Perhaps  you  live  in  a  place  that  is  marked  in  red 
on  the  map.  If  you  do,  there  are  fever  ticks  on  the 
cattle  in  the  country  around  your  home. 

The  next  time  you  see  some  cattle  in  the  country 
or  at  the  stock  pens  go  close  to  them  and  see  if  you 
can  find  fever  ticks  on  them.  Notice  how  these  ticks 
keep  their  heads  buried  in  the  hides  so  that  they  can 
suck  blood  from  the  animal  and  poison  it  with  fever. 


■■I^H 


Don't  you  feel  sorry  for  this  animal? 


30 


THE  CATTLE  FEVER  TICK. 


Photograph  of  ticks  on  a  steer's  hide. 


Perhaps  the  people  in  your  red  county  also  are 
getting  tired  of  ticks.  Perhaps  they,  too,  are 
beginning  to  build  vats  and  are  getting  ready  to 
drive  their  cattle  through  the  medicine. 

Ask  your  father  about  this.  If  he  says  that  your 
county  is  not  getting  rid  of  ticks,  then  ask  him  to 
read  this  little  story  carefully.  Tell  him  ii  means 
dollars  and  cents  to  him  whether  he  owns  any  cattle 
or  not. 


BOOKS    FOR   THE    GROWN-UPS. 


31 


BOOKS  ABOUT  TICKS  FOR  GROWN-UPS. 

If  your  parents  want  to  know  all  about  the  tick 
and  how  to  get  rid  of  it,  tell  them  to  write  a  postal 
card  to  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Washington,  D.  C,  or  to  your  State  live-stock  officials. 
Without  charge,  they  will  send  little  books  for  grown 
people  telling  about  the  fever  ticks  and  how  to  get 
rid  of  them  in  your  county. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL   BE   ASSESSED    FOR    FAILURE  TO    RETURN 
THIS    BOOK   ON    THE    DATE    DUE.    THE   PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON   THE  FOURTH 
DAY     AND     TO     $1.00     ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 
OVERDUE. 

!W  ' 

t£Ac(7/7  (Tn  rmouB^w^ATi  * 

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nd 
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th. 
ith 
>il, 

LD  21-100m-8,'34 

Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.,  Inc. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 

PAT.  JAN.  21.  1908 


939021 

Q 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


